Trump wants military plans for invading Greenland: Brass pushing back

Donald Trump has asked the U.S. military to come up with a plan for invading Greenland, and is getting resistance from military brass, for probably obvious reasons.

“The generals think Trump’s Greenland plan is crazy and illegal,” a diplomatic source told the Daily Mail, a UK-based right-wing newspaper. “So, they are trying to deflect him with other major military operations. They say it’s like dealing with a 5-year-old.”

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ICYMI

• Denmark PM Mette Frederiksen to Donald Trump: Greenland is ‘not for sale’

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The brass, reading this one correctly, is pushing back because of the awareness that an invasion of the money-losing island would not have congressional support, and would run afoul of international compacts, most notably, NATO.

The desire to control Greenland, which is one of the three countries of the Kingdom of Denmark, also runs afoul of common sense.

The main industry in Greenland, which has just 57,000 residents, is fishing, and the island is heavily dependent on mainland Denmark for its sustenance.

The U.S. already has a deal in place with Denmark to host the Pituffik Space Base, a military base in the Arctic that we use for missile defense and surveillance.

The only thing about Greenland that makes any sense to me: could Trump be thinking of some kind of quid pro quo involving Greenland and Venezuela with his buddy in Russia, Vladimir Putin?

Mette Frederiksen, the prime minister of Denmark, directed a pointed message directed on the matter last week.

“The Kingdom of Denmark — and thus Greenland — is a member of NATO, and is therefore covered by the Alliance’s collective security guarantee,” Frederiksen said last week.

“We already have a defence agreement between the Kingdom of Denmark and the United States that grants the U.S. broad access to Greenland. In addition, the Kingdom has made significant investments in security in the Arctic.

“I therefore strongly urge the United States to cease its threats against a historically close ally, and against another country and another people who have stated very clearly that they are not for sale,” Frederiksen said.